PREP BASKETBALL: Coeur d'Alene starts fast, shoots past Post Falls in 6A District opener

• GIRLS

COEUR d’ALENE — With a week off and some much-needed rest, the top-seeded Coeur d’Alene girls basketball team had the look of a team ready to chase a third straight state title. 

Not that anyone is thinking about that quite yet. 

Sophomore Brookeslee Colvin scored a game-high 23 points and senior Kelsey Carroll scored 13 points in the first half for the Vikings, who beat the second-seeded Post Falls Trojans 77-40 in the first game of a best-of-3 6A District 1 championship series on Saturday at Viking Court. 

“We were able to get locked in right away,” Coeur d’Alene coach Stacy Boyd said. “We had a week off, so it gave us some time to get our feet under us and get some reps in. The girls were locked in and they were ready to go.” 

Freshman Lexie Wheeler scored 16 points and junior Karissa Wallis added 14 for Coeur d’Alene, which was without starting guard Natale Semprimoznik due to illness. 

“We had a lot of other players that stepped up today, and we’ve had that a lot lately,” Boyd said. “We’ve got some injuries still, but we’re doing really well right now. Right now, they’ve found their rhythm and sharing the ball. The teamwork is really hard to beat and they’re passing up good shots for great shots.” 

Coeur d’Alene (15-7) travels to Post Falls (8-15) for Game 2 on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. 

“I told them one game at a time and we’re not looking ahead,” Boyd said. “They’ve been patient and really been playing really well lately.” 

Junior Olivia Hollenbeck scored 11 points for Post Falls. 

“Give Coeur d’Alene credit, they played hard and well,” Post Falls coach Mike Divilbiss said. “We weren’t the best version of ourselves and that was a little disappointing. They played a lot mentally quicker than we did.” 

Post Falls    10    12    9    9    —    40 

Coeur d’Alene    25    21    21    10    —    77 

POST FALLS — Hollenbeck 11, Reese 4, Felix 0, McGowan 10, Johnson 0, Tucker 0, Nipp-Berger 0, Mitley 4, Walton 7, Wilcox 4. 

COEUR d’ALENE — Bridge 0, Wheeler 16, Wallis 14, Colvin 23, Shafer 5, Bowmer 6, Carroll 13, Reardon 0. 

Priest River 52 

Kellogg 28 

PRIEST RIVER — Senior Desi Humphrey scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the second half for the second-seeded Spartans in a win over the third-seeded Wildcats in the 3A District 1-2 tournament at Priest River High. 

Humphrey also had seven rebounds and senior Paityn Yount added 13 points for Priest River (14-6), which faces Grangeville in the championship game on Monday in Grangeville. The top-seeded Bulldogs beat fourth-seeded Orofino 76-16 in the other opening round game. 

Aubree Groth scored 18 points for Kellogg (8-12), which hosts Orofino in a loser-out game on Monday.  

Kellogg        15    4    6    3    —    28 

Priest River    11    11    19    11    —    52 

KELLOGG — A. Groth 18, Storey 6, Stutzke 3, Henrikson 1. 

PRIEST RIVER — Humphrey 19, Yount 13, McCracken 9, Jensen 4, Burgess-Duquette 3, Braae 2, Jepson-Church 2. 

The Oaks 43 

N.I. Christian 25 

SPOKANE VALLEY — Junior Madison Salaiz scored eight points for the Royals, who fell in the championship game of the Mountain Christian League Tournament at The Oaks. 

Chelsey Cate had seven points, eight rebounds, seven steals and four blocks for North Idaho Christian, which finished 14-8. 

Clara McEachran scored 18 points for The Oaks (11-5). 

The Oaks    9    9    9    16    —    43 

N.I. Christian    5    12    2    6    —    25 

THE OAKS — Ott 3, Dowers 2, Doster 9, Chun 0, Curran 0, McEachran 18, Palpant 8, Prach 3. 

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Ellis 0, Jordan 6, Cate 7, Salaiz 8, Collins 2, Brotherton 2, Pilgrim 0. 

• BOYS

Sandpoint 59 

Moscow 45 

MOSCOW — Junior Kingston Corbett had a game-high 22 points, along with eight rebounds and three blocked shots as the visiting Bulldogs beat the Bears in Inland Empire League play at Bear Den. 

"Playing a little short-handed tonight, we needed points and Kingston stepped up," Sandpoint coach Brian Childs said. "Not only did he score, he controlled the paint on both ends. Defensively, he protected the basket for us. One guy goes down, another one steps up — it's the way we've been all year." 

Sophomore Brock Yarborugh got the starting nod and contributed 10 points and six rebounds, junior Logan Roos added nine points and seven rebounds, and sophomore Knox Williams drained three 3-pointers for a total of nine points on the day. 

Junior Caiden Gion contributed seven points, a team-high three steals and made some crucial plays for the Bulldogs down the stretch. 

"Caiden played his best game of the season," Childs said. "We brought him in off the bench and he gave us the spark we needed and it was great to see. I'm not sure we win that game without his contributions." 

The Bulldogs have won seven of their last eight games. 

"I was really proud of our kids today," Childs said. "You can ask coaches all over, it's hard to win in Moscow. For us to go down there, short-handed, in the middle of the afternoon ... that's a big win." 

Sandpoint (8-8, 3-2) hosts Coeur d'Alene on Monday for another IEL matchup. 

Moscow is 6-13, 0-8. 

Sandpoint 16 8 18 17 — 59 

Moscow11 11 13 10 — 45 

SANDPOINT — Corbett 22, Yarbrough 10, Williams 9, Roos 9, Gion 7, Iverson 2. 

MOSCOW — Breese 10, Abendroth 10, Cummings 8, Bethel 6, Winfree 4, Izzo 3, Isakson 2, Mordhorst 2. 

Timberlake 66 

Grangeville 60 

GRANGEVILLE — Tyler Engelson made four 3-pointers and scored 32 points and the host Tigers, who trailed by three points at halftime, used a 42-point second half to beat the Bulldogs in nonleague play. 

Lucas Vallieres added 11 points for Timberlake (8-7). 

“Tyler had a great game,” Timberlake coach Mike LaFountaine said. “The defensive spark plugs were Payden DeVore and Mason Shively; they work so hard and get us going on the defensive side of the ball, and Mason has a knack to get loose balls.” 

Tate Thacker and Will Told each scored 14 points for Grangeville (4-15). 

Timberlake plays host to St. Maries on Tuesday. 

Timberlake     16    8    21    21    —    66 

Grangeville     19    8    19    14    —    60 

TIMBERLAKE — Engelson 32, Dykeman 7, VanGundy 2, Shively 2, Vallieres 11, DeVore 1, Rush 2, Simpson 9. 

GRANGEVILLE — Astle 12, Schumacher 0, Thacker 14, Stamper 8, Told 14, Long 4, Smith 8. 

Kendrick 64 

St. Maries 44 

ST. MARIES — The visiting Tigers made 12 of 21 from the 3-point line to beat the Lumberjacks in a nonleague game at St. Maries High. 

“We just had a heck of a time guarding the 3-point line,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “We just had a real slow start. We had a couple of runs, but couldn’t keep it going today.” 

Isaiah Gustaffe had 14 points, five assists and five rebounds, JJ Yearout 12 points and Landon Riberich five rebounds and six blocked shots for St. Maries (8-9), which travels to Timberlake on Tuesday. 

Ralli Roetcisoender scored 19 of his game-high 22 points in the first half for Kendrick (11-7).  

Kendrick    23    16    13    12    —    64 

St. Maries    8    11    14    11    —    44 

KENDRICK — M. Kirkland 9, Stilflow 6, Roetcisoender 22, Koepp 6, Cook 4, Bogar 2, H. Kirkland 15. 

ST. MARIES — Harold 0, J. Barta 6, Yearout 12, Gustaffe 14, B. Barta 9, L. Riberich 2, Defoort 1, T. Riberich 0. 

Kootenai Thunder 42 

Pullman Christian 29 

SPOKANE VALLEY — Senior Dylan Day finished out the season with a team-high 16 points, his 12th straight game reaching double digits, and the No. 3 Thunder downed the No. 4 Eagles in the Mountain Christian League Tournament third-place game at The Oaks Classical Christian Academy. 

Senior Malachi Duchow contributed nine points and seven rebounds for the Thunder (14-7) , which built a 17-2 lead to start the game. 

Senior Hunter Peterson grabbed 10 boards and blocked three shots in the win. 

KOOTENAI THUNDER — Day 16, Duchow 9, Manning 7, Palmer 4, Peterson 2, Peters 2, Hernandez-Ortega 2.